呉音

See also: 吳音 and 吴音

Japanese

Kanji in this term
呉	音
ご Grade: S	おん Grade: 1
on’yomi

Alternative spelling
吳音 (kyūjitai)

Etymology

Compound of 呉 (go, “the Wú region of China”) +‎ 音 (on, “sound, pronunciation”).

呉 may be a misnomer adopted by the Heian Period kan'on supporters to suggest that goon is "dialectal" or "non-standard".

Pronunciation

• Homophones: 語音, 五音

Noun

1. The pronunciation of Chinese hanzi characters used in the Wú 吳／吴 (wú) and Yuè 越 (yuè) regions of China.
2. A category of on'yomi (音読み), the Japanese approximation of the original Chinese pronunciation.

   The kanji pronunciation first brought to Japan via the Korean peninsula. This category was called waon (和音) until the middle of the Heian Period, after which it was also called goon. Generally regarded as the character reading brought over long ago from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River (the Wú region). Contrast with kan'on (漢音), sōon (宋音), and tōon (唐音).

Synonyms

• 和音 (わおん, ​waon)

See also

• 訓読み (くんよみ, ​kun'yomi)
• 音読み (おんよみ, ​on'yomi)
• 漢音 (かんおん, ​kan'on)
• 宋音 (そうおん, ​sōon)
• 唐音 (とうおん, ​tōon)